Mexican Senate Fights to Bring Back Soccer Promotion and Relegation

Mexican senators announced on Monday that they plan to propose a new law to bring back promotion and relegation in Mexican soccer. Promotion and relegation is a system where the best lower-division teams move up to the top league, and the worst top-league teams drop down. The debate has been heating up for years, and now it has reached the country's Senate floor.

Senator Clemente Castañeda from the Movimiento Ciudadano party introduced the proposal. He had support from members of other parties, including a representative from the ruling Morena party. Castañeda said the law is important because it would make sure teams earn their place in the top league through skill and hard work, not just money. He also invited the leaders of Liga MX to the Senate meeting, but they chose not to attend.

The promotion and relegation system was suspended in April 2020. Team owners said second-division clubs were struggling with money, and the COVID-19 pandemic made things worse. They promised the system would return after five years, which would have been last year. But that promise was never kept, and several lower-division clubs started protesting to demand that soccer officials honor the original agreement.

Liga MX also made it very hard for lower-division teams to even qualify for the top league. One rule required teams to have a stadium that holds at least 30,000 fans — a standard some first-division clubs don't even meet themselves. These high requirements made it almost impossible for smaller clubs to move up, even if they had the talent. Critics say the rules were designed to keep the same rich clubs in power.

New investors were also hurt by the change. A group of business people, including former Houston Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow, bought a second-division team called Cancún FC in 2022, believing promotion would return. 'When we bought the team, we saw great potential — but the current system fosters mediocrity; it's very sad,' said Giovani Solazzi, the team's president.

Protests spread across Mexican soccer in recent weeks. During some second-division matches, players stood still after the opening whistle or just passed the ball around without trying to score. Spanish goalkeeper Roberto Galán said he moved to Mexico believing promotion was coming and felt let down when it was canceled. Fan groups also showed up to games wearing protest shirts to show their frustration.

The conflict has now caught the attention of government watchdogs. Last week, Mexico's National Antitrust Commission launched an investigation into whether Liga MX is acting like a monopoly by blocking lower teams from moving up. A monopoly is when one group has so much control over something that it stops fair competition. If the commission finds wrongdoing, Liga MX could face serious legal consequences.